Darkdog Techniques
This section covers farming techniques and general strategies. General Tips *Do not afraid to leave behind and sacrifise your main units. *When picking skills, always focus on improving Darkdog over improving its units, as you'll deal the most job with Darkdog during most of the time. The priority should be EXP/Item/Gold > 'Less Damage and Cheaper Casting >'' 'Aura Powers > ''''Mana/Food > Running (until comfortable) > Mace/Ring Mastery > Paladog''. *You will be in melee mostof the times, but the range of Darkdog's weapon gives some advantage over even the largest melee monsters, so investing into more HP and HP-regeneration (which is mostly covered by Water Totem anyway) is low priority compared to dealing damage and gaining time to refill your supplies. *Dark Sword will always be needed considering the price in mana for all other options. Prepare for buttonsmash! The initial goal is to be able to swing this sword without interruption, than gaining enough mana for the occasional swing of other weapons. *Mjollnir will be the other weapon Darkdog should carry around most of the times considering its absolute damage potential. With 200 mana maximum and lowered casting cost you canswing it twice, which can eliminate most groups. *Occasionally other weapons will provide considerable bonus for certain levels, especially talking about Hell difficulty. Generally speaking Soul Hook and Flame Sword are the two more common secondary swords, Poison Dagger and Vampire Sword has occasional uses, and Giant Sword is an ok step during developing a substantial mana regeneration. *Flame Sword can deal damage-over-time to groups, and has noticably lower cost than Thor's Hammer. Soul Hook can provide large amount of food in levels where totems are priority, or food is in demand soon. *With Disturbing Aura. Aura power, plus Berserk Aura all weapons can be very-very effective. When transformed into DevilDog this power grows exponentially. *Darkdog is highly item-dependent. If you feel lacking keep your eyes open where it worth farming for higher quality items. Unit priority and game progress Darkdog's units and abilities (collectively called Totems) should fit to the current level. They are not set in order of power, so on a level one can work, while on the other it'll be totally useless. *At the start of the game, the player should focus on laying down Wind Totems and strategically backing away from the enemy. To be able to run away, incrised speed is a must. *On green levels you control a Warrior Boar in a minigame, which is independent from Darkdog's abilities. *Warcry is useless on the beginning levels, and never works on bosses. Unlock it, and invest into Warrior Boar right after. It will be useful much later when very strong units with range (skeletons with spears and beholders) appear. *Water Totem does heal Darkdog, so it is a good thing to invest into. Usually keeping around 2 of it covers your needs. *Summon Blade while can add to some damage to your weapons, is usually a second-rate support skill. Still, do not entirely neglect it, as against the Trojan Horses the fix installed totems barely have any use. *Earth Totem is like Defensive Tortoise, but does not move. It is critical to have though during Purple levels, which are a dungeon where monsters march towards Darkdog to destroy him. *Fire Eagle is a totem attached to Darkdog. While it can be carried around, it also dies much faster than the other totems without the support of Water Totems. It is the equialent of Monkey the Pirate, but given the slow recharge-rate of Darkdog's totems you'll likely use them on many levels. *Fire Totem is very much like Pink Dragon, but with way lower defensive capabilities. You'll likely rely on them a lot. *Devil Dog is the ultimate skill of Dark Dog. It not just incrise the damage output, put also will be hit less frequently, and has way more HP then Dark Dog'soriginal form. It is a must to invest to survive large versions of skeletons with spears and massive cave-waves. *For jewelry Darkdog will usually swap between mana- and food regeneration rings, preferably wearing three of them all times. When possible gold and EXP amulets should be used even on regular levels because Darkdog has problems farming. Racking up hordes of enemies for faster leveling This strategy is mostly true for the whole of the game: run to the enemy Cave right at the beginning, and fall back when needed. Try to avoid being hit by staying outside the enemy's range. Against ranged enemy you'll need special weapons, or backing away to lure them out from where tey spawn and are untouchable otherwise. Try to make a permanent base near the Cave as soon as possible. *Sometimes it is better to make your base where your totems cann ot damage the Cave. *Also keep in mind large version of creatures, or suddenly appearing crowds endanger Darkdog, so you should stand where you can damage the Cave, but not where youcan not see what's coming towards you. Always be prepared for the set waves which appear at 50% of the Caves' HP by storing food, mana, and charging back crucial skills. For Purple Levels the usual setup is meatshield (usually Earth Totem) - something with damage (initially Wind Totem, later Fire Totem) - Water Totem (to keep things alive) - trap (strongest trap you can afford from mana). Ghosts will simply pass Darkdog, they are almost never an issue. Defensive monsters (like Giant Heads)can trample your totems. Stand their way by Darkdog if possible. Fast Level Up, Item Drop and Gold *Initially you can rely on Green Levels to farm gold. True, those don't provide items or exp, but also hold no monsters, and can be finished quickly. *Second farming method is rising aura size, and aura causing damae to the enemy. This startegy can be evolved by adding Fire Totems to your pool supported by two Water Totem. **As good as it gets, farming can be made against the Zombie King (1-12), Mummy King (2-24), on the Ghost Dog's level (no need to tear down the cave), and later the Ice Dragon level (this mostly for high level items). * With enough abilities you CAN farm 5-11. For this you must be able to witheld the enemy until you lay down 2 water totem and enough fire totem to destroy the enemy (happened to me after clvl 100). The firetotems hit everything in their range, so once you have enough of them, you don't need constantly adding more unlike Paladog for his troops. Details of certain individual levels *Purple levels in general has the rule that projectiles from your totems don'tpass between the three storeys of the map. *The first problematic enemies will be basic mummies with their incrised attack range on 1-14. *Second problem will be the Miner Zombies from 1-18. They are the first monsters which hit for a larga portion of your HP. Use of Giant Sword here is a good option. *For Blue Levels, where a Trojan Horse must be dispatched a good trick is to run behind the horse toavoid its firebreath. *On 1-24 the Witchcann ot turn Darkdog into a frog. *On 2-9 probably your only ranged unit will still be Wind Totem. It'll have to be maxed tosurvive the level. *On 2-12 a Poison Dagger is the weapon of choice. *On 3-14 the Soul Hook is the weapon of choice. *On 3-24 the NomNom eats Darkdog in a single hit, so avoid all contact. Feed it with chickens (Wind Totem). *On 4-6 a kicker boss appears at the end. *On 4-10 right before the Cave-wave is a kicker. If you're good enough, you can dispose it before causing the Cave-wave to appear. *From 4-23 Mjollnir is a must. *On 5-11 intensive use of maxed Warcry is the way to go. *On 5-12 (Poison Ivy) Fire Eagles are which can save you. *From 5-13 starting a level seem to work if you first transform to Devildog to clear the inital large versions of spear skeletons and thus be able to build a base. *On 5-14, around the end of the level a NomNom will appear amongst the enemy ranks. *On 5-19 the time-limit for 3 stars are pressing. Ghost-bosses appear frequently 3 at a time, so you won't have a permanent base. *On 5-20 the final wave contains a NomNom. *On 5-22 Vampire Sword is the weapon of choice. Along hordes of spear skeletons the level throws at you frequent Ice Dragon Bosses which tend to destroy all of your layed totems. You should still invest into a base, at least for some Water Totems.